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Woman Fatally Stabbed at East Village Store

Two employees of a Key Food grocery store were stabbed Friday afternoon. The suspect was still at large in the evening.Credit
Annie Tritt for The New York Times

A worker at a grocery store in the East Village who colleagues said was despondent over a breakup with his girlfriend, a cashier there, fatally stabbed her at the store on Friday afternoon and also slashed another employee, the police said.

The suspect, who store employees said was a part-time maintenance worker at the store, Key Food, at Avenue A and East Fourth Street, fled through the front doors after the attack at 3:10 p.m., the police said.

The police and store employees identified the attacker as James Gonzalez, 42, and the police said he was still at large Friday night.

After the man left the store, he dropped the knife on the street as he ran south along Avenue A, the police said.

“When he was running, in the middle of the street, the knife went flying,” said a man who identified himself only as the store’s night manager. He said the knife was a large butcher knife with a black handle.

The police identified the employee who was killed as Tina Negron, 24. She was stabbed in the torso and was pronounced dead more than two hours later at Beth Israel Medical Center, the police said.

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James Gonzalez, 42, was being sought by the police.Credit
New York Police Department

The other victim, 27, a bookkeeper, was stabbed in the torso and leg, and was listed in serous condition at Beth Israel Medical Center on Friday evening, the police said. The police did not immediately provide her name.

As detectives searched for Mr. Gonzalez on Friday evening, the store’s night manager said that Mr. Gonzalez had become increasingly upset in the days since Ms. Negron broke off their romance. He said that Mr. Gonzalez dated Ms. Negron off and on for about a year, and that Mr. Gonzalez spent time in a homeless shelter in the Bronx and sometimes slept in the store’s basement.

The store’s night manager said the relationship seemed to mean a lot to Mr. Gonzalez. “He didn’t want to let it go,” he said.

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In the moments before the attack, Mr. Gonzalez seemed focused on Ms. Negron and used profanity in telling her to “get that smile off her face,” said the store’s night manager. A customer intervened, but Mr. Gonzalez had words with that man, the manager said, and chased him out of the store.

Another employee who refused to give her name said she was working at the register next to the one where Ms. Negron was working Friday afternoon. She said that at one point Mr. Gonzalez was agitated and arguing with Ms. Negron. “I heard him saying, ‘You want me to smack you in your face?’ ” she said.

She added that Ms. Negron had tried to ignore him, and that Mr. Gonzalez went to the basement at one point. While he was there, Ms. Negron walked up to a raised station at the front of the store where managers congregate and can look over the cashiers, she said. When Mr. Gonzalez returned, he followed Ms. Negron up to the station, the employee said.

The police said the stabbing occurred at that station. The suspect apparently entered the station, stabbed both workers and then ran out, the police said.

The police said the suspect was wearing a green jacket, possibly with the words “Canada Dry” on it. They described him as a light-skinned Hispanic man, 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing 190 pounds, with facial hair. He is bald but was wearing a black woolen cap, the police said.